My Family & Other Animals

Tuesday 20 March 2012

"Cheers (Drink To That)..."

So Sunday was Mothering Sunday and as much as I would have loved to have been with my mum (as planned!), you can't always plan for the unpredictable can you?
I spent most of last week in enormous amounts of pain because of my back again. It's been ongoing for about 13 years now so I really should be used to it, but recently the pain was getting unbearable again and I ended up taking most of the week off work. On wednesday I finally managed to get an appointment with the pain management team at Lincoln County Hospital. About twice a year I have injections into the nerves at the base of the spine (both sides) and the result is that this can give me a few pain free hours a day for up to 3 or 4 months. I then attend a meeting with the consultant who asks me how I got on, I tell him okay, he asks if I want the injections again, I say yes and a month or so later I am face down on a table, wearing what can only be described as a hankie with a bum flap that doesn't even fit where it actually touches! Well this time has taken considerably longer to get organised than usual. Funding for the injections was approved LAST JUNE! but no-one (that's me and my GP) has been able to get through to the right department at the hospital to try and organise a visit, so the pain in my back has just gotten worse as the days have gone on. I don't know if it was just me, but the consultant seemed particularly heavy-handed this time and the pain being inflicted on my spine was unbearable. I had to have oxygen because I kept holding my breath waiting for the pain to subside; overall it turned out to be a fairly unpleasant (and long-winded) experience, one that I shall not be rushing to repeat if I am given the choice!
So Mothering Sunday was a wash out. Jo and I were going to see mum and take her some flowers, sweeties and a really pretty card I had spent most of last week making! but come Sunday morning neither one of us was actually capabe of the (relatively) short drive over to Coningsby. To make matters worse, my sister then said she was planning to make dinner for us too!!! So rare an event as to actually warrant a mention by Nostradamus. Normally the only way you will get a cooked meal out of her is to actually invite yourself over!!
Anyhoo, on to this week's card and the theme at I ♥ ProMarkers is '3 Different Papers'. We are being sponsored by the lovely people over at StampFairy and the image I have used is called Lenny: Happy New Year 5. As per usual I have used the old PM's and the papers are all Basic Grey offcuts (Hmmm, have I mentioned just how much I love Basic Grey!) I had on my craft table already. I used some Bazzill Basics Dotted Swiss card (another one of my absolute favourite ever products) which has the adorable name of Mud Puddle! and a Martha Stewart punch. I have also used one of my Sizzix alphabet strip dies. I have had these dies for a good few years now and I'll be honest, they just sit there gathering dust most of the time, but I really wanted to use some old stash so I gave them a dusting off and I love the finished look of the whole card.
I have been on a bit of a spending spree lately (no, not my mother's generous donation - well, not yet anyway!) and have bought some amazing new products which I hope to be sharing with you over the coming months. The items include some of the new Nestabilities (Dies being my absolute weekness at the moment), I got some stunning feather dies today! I have also bought some fantastic new stamps including Sugar Nellie, Some Odd Girl, Gorjuss, Kraftin' Kimmie, Kanban and of course Magnolia, so keep an eye out for those real soon.
Hope you are having a good week so far, the weather looks like it is picking up at last (even managed to hang some washing on the line today!!), I will see you again real soon,
Lots of love 'n hugs
Andy
x
Entered Into: Digital Tuesday Challenge #152 - Life Is Peachy
Ladybug Craft Ink TLT Challenge - Anything Goes
Passion for ProMarkers Challenge #140 - Animal
Crafty Purple Frog Challenge #37 - Anything Goes
Craft Us Crazy Challenge - Easter/Religious and/or Something Sweet
Cute Card Thursday Challenge #209 -Anything Goes
Dutch Dare Card Challenge #157 - Cute and Cuddly
Pixie Dust Studio Challenge #119 - Your Favourite Things
SJ Crafts Shop Blog Challenge #3 - 1, 2, 3 + Added Extra: Include 3 of Something
CardMadFairy's Digi Days Challenge #29 - Add A Sentiment
Card Makin' Mama's Challenge - Button, Button, Who's got the button?
Fun With Shapes And More Challenge #105 - Stripes
Phindy's Place Challenge #98 - Animal Planet
The Poodles Parlour Challenge - Anything Goes
Dilly Beans Designers and Friday Challenge - Party
Stampin' For The Weekend Challenge #6 - Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts Friday Challenge #109 - Humour

24 comments:

  1. Fab blog and thanks so much for your comment on mine. Loving your posts - longwinded but hilarious!! So sorry to read of your pain - been there myself but in cervical spine. 2 discs completely gone and various injections later I had fusion op done in Oct 2011 and thankfully pain free now after 4 years of hell on earth. Happy crafting Andy! Sheila:)X

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  2. What a cute card! Love the image! Thanks for joining the Pixies at Pixie Dust Studio!

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  3. great card, amazing colors! what a funny little bear putting his paw into this gigantic glass! as if to say "mine" huhu! so cute and irresistible.... i'm sorry to read about your painful back and all the wonderful times you missed, yes, a real pain in the back...yet the way you write is so funny, reminds me of bill bryson ^^
    and finally to answer your question about my card: yes i wrote the Japanese text myself, it's a bit shaky i'm not too proud...

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  4. Hi Andy, Cute card, super colouring and love the pearl bubbles. Your back pain sounds so painful. Have been in the situation of not been able to stand, sit, lie whatever but thankfully a visit to my Osteopath relieves the problem till the next time. Hope things improve for you. Thank you for your lovely comment on my colouring, a real learning curve for me, not a natural but loving the challenge. Carolxx

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  5. Cute card Andy, love the image - could just drink a glass of what he's got lol. Thanks for joining us at Crafty Purple Frog this time. Carol DT x

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  6. Andy,
    This is so cute! I love your coloring and all of your added touches. Thanks for playing with us at Dutch Dare Card Challenge.
    Hugs
    Pattie ♥

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  7. Card is very cute, love the champagne bubbles.

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  8. Hi Andy! Beautiful card! I love your coloring and the highlights, and your beautiful paper and layout of the card! hugs Sandra

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  9. Super cute card - thanks for joining us at Dilly Beans! :)

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  10. A tipsy teddy - how fun! We are so glad to have you join us at Dilly Beans. Be sure you continue to play with us. Happy Crafting!

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  11. Such a sweet image and love the pearls you used for the bubbles. The colour combo and swirls look fabulous.
    Thanks for joining us at LCI this fortnight.
    Diane xx

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  12. So cute you coloured this one up real fine...thanks for joining us at PFP this week...

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  13. Wow, it's a so gorgeous Coloring and also the composition of the Design Paper. Wonderful, like it very much! Thanks for joining us at fun woith shapes and more!
    XOXO Michi

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  14. Hi AndyI
    I really love your card. You've used a cute image and your coloring is fab!
    Thanks so much for joining our challenge at PFP:)

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  15. Such a sweet card, love the image and the pearls around the cheers sentiment look fab (just like little bubbles), love the flourish and the buttons too. Sorry to hear that your back is giving you so much trouble, I hope you feel better soon
    Lindsay xx

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  16. WOW, Andy! You sure rocked the challenges! Looks like a party I want to go to. thanks for joining us at Dilly Beans. xxD

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  17. How cute! I love how you used the pearls as champagne bubbles. Thanks for joining us this week at Totally Papercrafts.

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  18. A tottering Teddy too. Love everything about this but the pearls are the nicest touch. I hope your back feels better soon. Thanks so much for joining us at Dilly Beans this week.

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  19. This is really cute Andy and thanks for sharing it with us at Dutch Dare. Just want to gently remind you of our 8 challenges total limit;) Hope to see you back tomorrow. Bettina xx

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  20. Such a sweet card love the use of the paerls Hugs Elaine

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  21. Pretty card. Thanks for taking part in SJ Crafts Challenge.

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  22. How cute! What a fabulous card! Thanks so much for joining us at Phindy's Place!

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  23. Great card - such a cute image!! Thanks for joining in at S J Crafts!!

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